One example of negative keywords would be for someone selling high end, branded lip sticks for ladies. They would want to ensure that as many clicks as possible converted into sales – therefore negative keywords like “free”, “cheap” or even “reviews” are inserted into the campaign.

This means lower quality traffic that isn’t as likely to convert won’t be sent to their website, thus meaning there’s more money to be spent on actual buying keywords.

Turn off automatic bidding: Would you going into a shop and give the shop keeper your credit card then tell them to buy you some things?

The answer is no – you can’t trust them to ensure that you get the best deal.

Therefore you should never turn on the automatic bidding option that is offered by various PPC networks out there.

Giving these networks a pass to spend your budget how they see fit is never wise – how do you know you’re getting a good deal? The answer is that you don’t. Therefore it’s essential that you set your bids manually.

Split test your website: Split testing is important because it’s the process of improving your website to make it convert better.

If you want to get the most out of your AdWords budget you have to appreciate that your website is not the finished article – there are always improvements that can be made.

Split test different layouts and configurations to find out which one works best – then split test some more! Split testing is a never ending process.

Deep link your adverts: Don’t have all of your adverts sending traffic to the front page of your website. Have deep linked adverts that take your customers to the exact product that they are looking for.

Visitors are lazy – if you don’t take them to the product that they need right away they’ll often bounce from your site and look elsewhere.

If you’re targeting adverts at people looking for a specific make and model of car, make sure the link that they follow takes them to a page all about that specific model of car – not just your homepage.

Hire an expert: If all of the above points seem like a lot of hassle for you, or you just don’t understand them properly, make sure you hire a PPC expert.

Although PPC experts don’t come cheap, the savings they can help you make on your campaign as well as the increased number of conversions they can bring, makes hiring a PPC expert look like the obvious choice.